Two key accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, former additional DG PP Pandey and former IPS DG Vanzara, were Thursday granted by bail the special CBI court.

Two key accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, former additional DG PP Pandey and former IPS DG Vanzara, were Thursday granted by bail the special CBI court.

Pandey has been in jail for over a year while Vanzara, considered an encounter specialist, has been in jail since 2007 after being arrested in the Sohrabuddin case.

The court granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and restrained him from entering Gujarat. The ex-IPS officer has been told to mark his presence before that court on every working Saturday. He is also barred from leaving the country.

Vanzara, during his stint in the city crime branch as head of State Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was made an accused in fake encounter cases of Soharabuddin Sheikh, Tulsi Prajapatiand Ishrat Jahan, by the CBI. Last September Vanzara was was granted bail by a special court in Mumbai in the Sohrabuddin case as well.

Vanzara and seven other policemen were chargesheeted in the killing of Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college student from Mumbra and three other men in 2004. The police officers claimed the four were involved in a plot to kill then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

The Gujarat high court had handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which described the encounter as a joint operation of Ahmedabad police and Indian IB — as four officials of IB including its former special director Rajinder Kumar were also chargesheeted.

At the time of counter, Vanzara was deputy commissioner of police while Pande was joint commissioner of police heading Ahmedabad crime branch, which had executed the encounter.